Shabana Azmi, Paresh Rawal To Attend 8th Theatre Olympics
With participation of 30 countries and 25,000 artistes from across the globe, National School of Drama (NSD) is set to host the "biggest theatre celebration" for the first time in India.
With
participation
of
30
countries
and
25,000
artistes
from
across
the
globe,
National
School
of
Drama
(NSD)
is
set
to
host
the
"biggest
theatre
celebration" for
the
first
time
in
India.
The
8th
edition
of
Theatre
Olympics,
touted
as
the
largest
international
theatre
festival,
will
be
inaugurated
by
vice
president
Venkaiah
Naidu
on
February
17
at
the
Red
Fort,
Culture
Minister
Mahesh
Sharma
announced
at
a
media
briefing.
The
51-day
theatre
extravaganza
will
see
450
shows
including
65
shows
by
international
artistes,
600
ambient
performances
and
250
youth
forum
shows.
"Through
the
Theatre
Olympics
we
will
be
able
to
showcase
the
Indian
arts
and
culture
in
front
of
people
of
the
world.
It
is
a
huge
event
where
65
foreign
shows
will
take
place
in
17
cities
across
the
country.
Folk
artistes
will
also
present
their
arts
there," the
minister
said.
Among
theatrical
performances,
the
event
will
also
see
activities
like
'Living
Legends'
series,
'Master
Classes',
symposia,
'Interface'
and
workshops.
It
will
also
include
two
international
seminars
and
six
national
seminars.
The
event
will
see
eminent
Indian
theatre
personalities
like
Shabana
Azmi,
Paresh
Rawal,
Manoj
Joshi,
Seema
Biswas,
Ratan
Thiyam,
Alyque
Padamsee,
M
K
Raina,
Bansi
Kaul
and
Usha
Ganguly
among
others.
The
festival
will
play
host
to
international
theatre
artistes
such
as
Theodoros
Terzopoulos
(chairman,
International
Committee
of
Theatre
Olympics),
Liu
Libin
(China),
Sahika
Tekand
(Turkey),
Jan
Fabre
(Belgium),
and
Pippo
Delbono
(Italy).
Speaking
at
the
event,
NSD
director
Waman
Kendre
said
that
with
the
theme
of
"Flag
of
Friendship" the
objective
of
the
event
was
to
"create
a
platform
for
conversation
between
Indian
and
global
artistes
With
this
international
event,
we
wish
to
express
our
theatre
practices,
its
variations,
philosophies
and
the
sheer
strength
of
our
texts,
narratives
and
ways
of
presentation
in
front
of
a
global
audience.
In
return,
we
extend
our
arms
to
welcome
the
practices,
ideologies
and
philosophies
of
visiting
performers,"
he
said.
The
theatre
event
will
see
participation
of
countries
including
Australia,
Azerbaijan,
Bangladesh,
Belgium,
Brazil,
China,
Czech
Republic,
Denmark,
France,
Germany,
and
Greece.
The
plays
will
be
held
at
Agartala,
Ahmedabad,
Bengaluru,
Bhopal,
Bhubaneswar,
Chandigarh,
Chennai,
Delhi,
Guwahati,
Imphal,
Jaipur,
Jammu,
Kolkata,
Mumbai,
Patna,
Thiruvananthapuram
and
Varanasi.
The
festival
will
conclude
with
a
grand
ceremony
at
the
Gateway
of
India
in
Mumbai
on
April
8.PTI